Games-Double Pan Am rugby sevens gold for Canada
By Kimberly Spice TORONTO, July 12 (Reuters) - Canada rolled to double gold in the Pan American Games rugby sevens tournament on Sunday as the women's team crushed arch-rivals the United States in the title game while the men eked out a narrow victory over Argentina. After spotting the United States an early try, Canada's women shifted into top gear and roared back to claim an easy 55-7 win before turning over the stage to the men, who came back to beat Argentina 22-19 in a thriller. It marked the first time women's rugby sevens has been contested at the Pan Am Games, with the sport set to make its Summer Games debut next year at the Rio Olympics. "It's incredible and this is our first Pan Am Games, so to walk away with a gold medal is a phenomenal feeling," said Canada's Jen Kish. "There's definitely more great days for this team. "Every time we put on the Canadian jersey we want to give the best performance that we can. "We're always cup-hunting. "We always want to be the best that we can be so you can expect many more trophies from us building towards Rio." The Canadian women, who beat the Americans 34-12 earlier in the tournament, dominated the two-day competition, running up a 6-0 record and outscoring their opponents 285-19 to underline their Olympic ambitions. The United States were the only team to score against the hosts, but that was not enough to spoil the party for a home crowd numbering 20,000 according to Rugby Canada. The Americans got the game off to a flying start when Kristen Thomas scored the first try but Canada answered a minute later with Ashley Steacy and never looked back, taking a 26-7 lead into the break. Canada's men had a much tougher path to gold. After a narrow 17-12 quarter-final victory over Chile and a tight 26-19 semi-final win over the top ranked United States 'Eagles', Canada then had to battle past Argentina to defend their Pan Am crown. "We didn't make any of the games easy," said Canadian captain John Moonlight. "We've always said to ourselves there's no opportunity where we can't win a game very with little time left we can always come back." (Editing by Peter Rutherford)
